Beyond the Situation: Hanging Out with Peers now is Associated with Short-Term Mindsets Later

Z-proso provides rich longitudinal data from a representative sample of 1,675 adolescents from Zurich, Switzerland. Publication abstract: The research in the publication at hand served to test whether frequently hanging out with peers has effects on decision making cognition beyond the situation: It is well-established that unstructured unsupervised socializing with peers (UUS) motivates deviance while in that specific context.

In this article, we extend this situational view by arguing that repeated UUS may also gradually shape adolescents’ norms and decision making beyond the situation. Specifically, we argue that UUS promotes short-term mindsets, i.e., an increased focus on present rewards at the expense of considering future consequences. We test this hypothesis with fixed-effects models, using longitudinal data from a representative sample of 1,675 adolescents from Zurich, Switzerland.